


Dimensional Rifts

by michaelfalls



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: A lot of crack basically, Crack Crossover, Crack Relationships, Crack and Angst, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:08:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21708001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michaelfalls/pseuds/michaelfalls
Summary: After Tony snaps his fingers to end off Thanos and his army in 2023, he accidentally opens up dimensional rifts throughout time and space, causing people from certain time periods to end up somewhere, sometime else. Tony finds himself in the Sanctum Sanctorum, in 2016.
Relationships: Frank Castle & Peter Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Quill/Thor, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange (Unrequited)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	1. Here We Go

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this was a fun little idea I got a couple months ago. I didn't write it until now because I was busy with How I Met Stephen Strange, art projects and schoolwork, but I'm finally getting around to it.
> 
> The idea is that every chapter will be a different thing. Like the first chapter is 2023 Tony in 2016 Doctor Strange, and the next chapter's gonna be 2014 GOTG2 Peter Quill in 2017 Thor: Ragnarok. You get my drift. It's gonna be fun to explore dynamics between characters, and even crack/maybe not crack relationships.
> 
> Not sure about posting schedule, but I'll try to update as often as possible. Let's have fun with this :) If anyone has any requests, leave them in the comments and I'll see if I can write it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2023 Avengers: Endgame's Tony Stark falls into 2016 Doctor Strange.

"And I... am... Iron Man."

Tony snaps his fingers and finds himself collapsing in a place he's seen before. The Sanctum Sanctorum... It looks a little different from the time he'd been brought there. He tries to call for help, Stephen might be around, but he's too exhausted to say anything. He can't feel his right arm and he doesn't want to look down.

Wong walks in and shouts, "Strange! Quick!"

Stephen enters the room through an orange portal and Tony blacks out just then.

* * *

"Stark? You with me?"

"Huh?" Tony mumbles groggily. Stephen gently pats Tony's arm as he stands over him. Tony looks around the room -- it doesn't look like he's in the hospital. Tony asks, "What happened? Did we win?"

"Win what?" Stephen questions. Tony blinks in confusion and tries to sit up, get a better angle at his situation. Stephen immediately says, "Stay down. Your arm is heavily injured. I'm not sure how long it will take to heal, but I'm trying to find something. In the meantime, just lie down and don't move your right arm."

Tony nods slowly, asking, "Are we back at your place, Doc?"

Stephen frowns, turning back to him, "You have never been here, Mr. Stark."

"Tony's fine. You had no problem calling me that before," Tony mutters.

Stephen narrows his eyes at him, as if suspicious, "We have never met."

"What do you mean? We met five years ago," Tony replies. "I was taking a walk with Pepper and then you Harry Potter-ed your way into my life. My friend Bruce was with you. Wong over there told me about the Infinity Stones. I saved you from Space Squidward."

Stephen and Wong exchange a long look. Tony knows it to be the kind where they're having a silent conversation. Stephen finally asks, "What year are you from?"

"2023, obviously," Tony answers sarcastically. "What year are you from, genius?"

"2016," Stephen replies slowly. "That explains a lot..."

"Wait, what the hell is going on?" Tony asks, starting to panic. _2016? What happened in 2023? Was it all a fever dream?_

Stephen places a comforting hand on his -- Tony notices that it trembles -- and says, "Give us a minute. I'll be right back."

* * *

It's more than a minute. It's almost three hours later that Stephen returns. Tony had managed to catch random intervals of sleep, but his anxiety kept pulling him back from rest. Tony says, "Took you long enough, Doc."

"I apologize. There isn't much that explains why you're here that isn't time travel," Stephen says. "Though you might have invented it in 2023, I'm not ruling out the possibility --"

"I did," Tony spoils.

Stephen nods, continuing, "And you did invent time travel. But this isn't it, because I would assume you would need some sort of device." He pauses, looking to Tony for affirmation. When Tony nods to confirm that a device was needed, Stephen goes on, "It was something else. The Infinity Stones. Did you use them?"

"Yeah."

"They have opened what we can call dimensional rifts," Stephen explains. "When you used the Stones, the impact unintentionally ripped a few holes throughout our reality. They're not particularly damaging, they'll just branch out into different realities. Our timeline will remain intact, so I suppose that it will be alright."

"What do you mean holes throughout reality?" Tony asks.

Stephen elaborates, "Like what happened to you. You tore a hole in your time, in 2023, and fell out the other end in my time, 2016. There's going to be a number of other incidents like this. If you want to know specifically what events have been altered, who's falling into where I can't tell you. I can't track these things."

"Why not?"

"I think this is more your kind of thing," Stephen says with a wry smile. "I can put you up here for a few days to heal your injuries, but I can't help you with the dimensional rifts."

"So, we can't fix it, can't take those displaced people back to where they came from?" Tony clarifies.

"Unless they find their own way home, they're stuck wherever they land," Stephen says. After a moment's pause, he adds, "Don't feel bad about it... It won't heavily impact anything. It just means that some people are going to have different adventures than the ones they already had. They won't even know anything's changed."

Tony frowns, placing a hand over his face. He feels awful. To think he thought he had managed to save everyone. He mumbles, "So, I won't ever know if I managed to kill Thanos?"

Stephen is silent for a second as he thinks of how to respond. He has no idea who this Thanos is, but from the look on Tony's face, he's a force to be reckoned with. Stephen says, "I'm sorry, Tony."

Tony lets out a heavy sigh as he realizes, "I'm in 2016... He's coming in two years." Tony starts trying to get up and Stephen rushes to his side, making sure he stays lying down.

"I said don't get up," Stephen orders. "You can talk lying down. What happened in the future?"

Tony takes a deep breath as the traumatic events came rushing back. Going back into space for the first time since the New York attack. Facing off the guy who has taunted him for the previous six years. Watching as his new comrades and mentee -- son --get taken apart and thrown to the breeze. Saying goodbye to Pepper before he curled up to welcome death, on the Benetar with Nebula. Watching the Avengers Compound crumble around them. Fighting Thanos with Steve and Thor. Watching Thanos punch their most powerful heavy-hitter, Carol, out of the fight with the Power Stone. Scrambling to get the Stones before he can snap. Feeling every inch of his body tear itself apart as the Stones settled into his armor --

"I can't," Tony struggles, trying to breathe. "I can't --"

"Breathe with me," Stephen says, taking Tony's hands in his. They're still shaking. Tony focusses on the scars that line his fingers as he follows Stephen. They breathe together in unison until Tony's finally calmed down enough to think coherently. "I'm sorry. I should have been more mindful asking."

"No, I... It's just difficult," Tony says. "I had a chance to kill him once and for all, and yet I won't ever know if it worked."

* * *

Wong watches as Stephen comes back from viewing every possible future. He's there to help him readjust to the real world, and asks, "What did you see?"

"Everything," Stephen replies.

"How many were there?" Wong asks, referring to the possibilities.

Stephen answers, looking around with an unreadable expression, "Twenty-four million, eighty-two thousand, six hundred and two."

"And what happens?"

"You know what happens," Stephen mutters moodily.

Wong changes course, "Then what about you?"

"I'm screwed, is what I am," Stephen replies. "I fall in love with him in more than half of these."

Wong raises his eyebrows, not expecting that. He asks, "Does that happen in this one?"

"I don't know," Stephen says.

* * *

"How are you feeling today?" Stephen asks, walking into Tony's room with some breakfast. He and Wong didn't have much money collectively, so the food is basically whatever they could afford that week. It's literally just a stack of pancakes from the diner across the street. "I had Wong contact Miss Potts to inform her that you're here. She said she'll be coming by later on."

"Thanks," Tony says, accepting the pancakes from Stephen. "I'm feeling better. Arm's still out of commission, but I'll be fine."

"Good," Stephen says. "If you need anything, just call out. The place is big, but we'll be able to hear you."

Tony nods, "I know. This place is weird. Thor told me about the time he swung by here."

"Excuse me?" Stephen questions.

Tony remembers that he's not in 2023 anymore and explains, "He visited you because you kidnapped his demonic brother and you helped him find his dad. He kind of wrecked your place with his magic hammer, sorry in advance."

Stephen raises an eyebrow and smiles. It feels weird to smile about it, but it was just an amusing thought. "I kidnap Loki?"

"Apparently," Tony shrugs, eating his pancakes. "Impressive, by the way. He's a pain in all our asses."

Stephen thinks about talking about Loki's antics from 2012 but decides against it. He knows what happens to Loki. He's seen it happen over seven hundred thousand times. Heard the snap of his neck over seven hundred thousand times. Watched Thor cry and mourn over seven hundred thousand times. He says instead, "Well, I wouldn't say that."

It seems like Tony remembers that Loki is dead too because he presses his lips together in the reconsideration and says, "Okay, yeah. Maybe not." After a moment, he adds, "He died. Thanos killed him."

 _I know_ , Stephen thinks. He feigns surprise, "My condolences to Thor."

"He's never getting over it, I could see it in his eyes," Tony says contemplatively. "He's in bad shape, and I'm not talking about his body. It's like... I didn't think someone as powerful as Thor could seem so beaten down. He's taken so much." He sighs, "I hope it worked out and Thanos is gone for good. He needs it."

Stephen doesn't know if he should tell him it works. That Thanos is gone. Because it involves telling him what happens in the possibilities and leading to Tony finding out about some not-so-favorable situations. He replies, "I'm sure it will all work out."

"It better," Tony mutters. "I have a daughter to keep safe."

 _I know_ , Stephen thinks again. A tug in his heart pulls him out of the room into the hallway, staring down at the carpeting beneath his feet. _I know_.

* * *

"Hi, I'm Pepper," she introduces at the Sanctum's doorway. She's pretty and tall, carries herself with a sense of respect and professionalism. She gives him a bright smile, "Thank you for taking care of Tony."

"It's no problem," Stephen replies. "I'll take you to him." He looks down at her feet -- high heels. He knows from Christine that high heels are a pain to walk in, so he decides to shorten the path there, by opening a portal.

It startles her and she asks, "Did you do that?"

"Sorry, I should have warned you first. Tends to be a little off-putting to new people," Stephen apologizes. But if you step through, it'll take you to right outside Tony's room."

She walks into the portal and Stephen follows her through. Pepper's hand pauses, hovering over the door. She turns to him and asks, "Is he sleeping?"

"No, he had breakfast earlier on. He should be awake. Just be mindful when touching him. He's still healing," Stephen says.

She nods and knocks before going in. Stephen watches the way Tony's face lights up when he sees her, the way his spirit is lifted when she speaks.

And then he realizes.

 _Oh_ , he thinks. _I'm too late_.

* * *

A few days later, Tony is well enough for Stephen to release him to go back with Pepper. She had made 2016 Tony aware of 2023 Tony's presence, and they had a plan on trying to get him back to his time. 2016 Tony himself had his own ideas on helping heal his future self completely. A part of Stephen didn't want to see Tony leave, not this soon, not when he has twenty-four million, eighty-two thousand, six hundred and two possibilities running through his mind.

He'd told Pepper a list that she had penned down in her perfect handwriting of things to be careful of while Tony recovers. He hopes it's enough.

"Thanks for all the help, Doc," Tony says sincerely. "I'll call you sometime, maybe. Remember to come to find me before Squidward arrives."

"I know," Stephen says. "Have a good life in the meantime."

"You too," Tony says, turning around to walk away with Pepper and Happy supporting him.

When Tony's no longer at talking range, when he's far out of Stephen and Wong's sight, Wong asks, "He doesn't know that that doesn't change anything, does it?"

"No," Stephen says quietly. "No, he doesn't."

"Are you going to do anything about it?"

"I can't," Stephen replies painfully. "You know I can't tell him. But even if I did, he still dies."

What a funny kind of irony... Dedicating his life to saving people and finally finding someone he loves. And he's allowed to love him, watch him from afar, keep him safe for two more years. But he's also allowed to watch the Infinity Stones rip his soul into pieces and burn it up with the sun.

 _And he is not allowed to save him_.

How lucky Stephen is.


	2. Guardian Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2's Peter Quill falls into 2017 Thor: Ragnarok.

"No! We need to stop it!" Ego pleads, trying to break free of Peter's grip. "If I die, you'll be just like everybody else!"

"What's so wrong with that?" Peter asks, frowning as he fights his father. _His father_. _Wow._ It's a sick kind of irony that this was the dad he waited years to meet. He hated that this sick monster got his hands all over his mother. Was the man she fell in love with. Ego never deserved someone as amazing as Meredith.

As he tries to land another punch, five seconds before the bomb Groot planted goes off, he watches in slow motion as his hand flies into a portal that opens out of nowhere. He yells in surprise as the rest of him falls through it.

* * *

Peter lands in a small apartment.

"What the hell? Where am I?" Peter mumbles to himself. He's never been to this apartment. No, any lady (or _dude_ , Peter doesn't really care about who he hooks up with as long as they're a good time) he's gone home with for some "fun times" didn't live in a place like this. It was pretty tidy, except for a few empty beer bottles lying around. The apartment is empty. He looks out the window, hoping he'll know where he is.

He's on Sakaar. _Oh, shit._

"I need to get out of here," Peter mutters, already looking for the door. Sakaar is one of the few places in the galaxy Peter's only heard stories of, but he knew he didn't want to be here. He's been to every ass end of the galaxy, but you will never catch him on Sakaar. Hearing the lock click makes him duck into the nearest room.

"Do you _really_ think he will come?"

"Don't talk. Just sit and keep quiet."

"Tell me, is kidnapping a skill of the Valkyries?"

 _Kidnapping?_ Peter furrows his eyebrows in confusion as he listens to the conversation. He hears a chair, some bonds. A bit more talk before one of them leaves. He hears bored humming (low voice, so the guy stayed) and decides to show himself.

"Oh? The Valkyrie has a friend," the dark-haired man says. "Hello, stranger. Stayed the morning after? Somewhere you shouldn't be?"

"I'm not the one in chains. Tell me what happened to me," Peter demands.

The man frowns, "What do you mean, what happened to you? I have never seen you before in my life. Who are you?"

"Peter Quill, Star-Lord," he answers. "Who are you?"

"Loki," the man answers. "I don't recognize your name."

Peter says, "I know yours. People used to worship you guys on Earth. I don't think it's a thing anymore, but..."

"You're of Midgard," Loki says, looking surprised. "Then maybe Thor knows you. Have a seat, Avenger."

Peter stares at him, confused at the invitation and at the name, but sits down on a chair anyway. He asks, "Why are you tied up?"

"The Valkyrie and I are competing for the Grandmaster's good graces. She wants to get ahead of me in finding his champion and my brother," Loki explains. "My brother being Thor and the champion being Bruce."

"Bruce?" Peter asks.

"Bruce Banner," Loki says. "I think you Midgardians know him as 'the Hulk'."

Peter scoffs, "The Hulk? And why did you call me Avenger? What kind of stupid names are those?"

"Don't let _the Hulk_ hear you say that," Loki mutters, crossing his legs. Though, he can't really cross them the whole way since he's tied to a chair. "I'm curious as to why you don't know the Avengers."

"Haven't been on Earth for a long time," Peter says. "I don't know who the Avengers are, or the Hulk."

The door suddenly flies open before Loki could offer any sort of explanation. Instinct kicks in and Peter blasts at the doorway. Bright blue energy fires out from his hands. Everyone dodges, except for the smaller guy behind some warrior-looking dude. Instantly, two swords are drawn and pointed at Peter, who raises his hands apologetically.

"Surprise," Loki smiles. If he was a dog, his tail would be wagging in innocence.

"Who is this?" the woman asks. From voice, Peter identifies her as the Valkyrie from earlier.

"Peter Quill," Loki answers smoothly. "Or Star-Lord, apparently. He's Midgardian."

"I'm half-human, half-Celestial. Not... Midgardian," Peter says. _What the hell is a Midgardian supposed to be?_

Loki smiles, "Half-Celestial. I may just convince Thor to keep you around."

"Celestial... I thought they died out," The warrior guy says. So that's Thor, and the other guy must be Bruce Banner by process of elimination.

"What's a Celestial?" Bruce asks.

"Practically gods," Valkyrie answers. "Thought to have gone extinct but... look what we have here."

Bruce thinks for a moment before asking, "If he replaces me as champion, can I leave?"

"Wait, what? I'm not replacing anyone as champion. That's _your_ problem," Peter shakes his head. "Listen, I just want to find a way home. I don't wanna stay on this planet any longer than I need to."

"First, are you okay? You're bleeding. Did my brother hurt you?" Thor asks.

Peter's hand goes up to his face and he touches his temple, his fingers stained crimson by the blood. He'd gotten cut by his mask when it broke off during the fight with Ego. He stares between Thor and Loki, "Dude, your brother was tied up. _How_ could he have hurt me?"

"And he's half- _Celestial_ ," Loki reminds.

"Well, if you want to get home... There are many ships outside," Thor says.

"I've never been here, never flown a Sakaaran ship," Peter mumbles. "Besides, I don't even know how I got here. I was fighting my dad and then this portal opened up and I fell in, landed in this apartment. Talked to Loki a bit."

"Speaking of me, can someone untie me?" Loki asks. "This position is getting uncomfortable."

Everyone exchanges looks until Peter says to Thor, "Look, dude, can you just free the guy already? He'll never shut up about it until you do."

Thor almost laughs, "Did you call me dude?"

Peter replies seriously, "Yeah. I'll call you it again, dude."

Thor blinks in surprise. "Do you know who I am?"

"Yeah. Thor, God of Thunder. An _Avenger_? I don't really care," Peter mumbles. When he sees nobody making a move, he frees Loki himself.

"I like him. Can we replace Thor with this Star-Lord?" Loki asks once he is standing.

"No way. I need him to get back to Earth," Bruce says.

"You're going to Earth?" Peter clarifies.

Thor nods, "Well, we're going to Asgard first and then to Earth. We'll need all the help we can get against my sister. She destroyed Mjölnir."

"That's your magic hammer, right? I read about it in books," Peter asks. When Thor nods, Peter shrugs, "Why not? I could help you. But can you drop me off at Xandar or something before you head to Earth?"

Thor stares at him, "Sure, but what are you going to Xandar for?"

Peter replies, "Well, my team and I are on good terms with the Nova Corps. Maybe they'll help me find my team, get in contact. Or, I could contact them from your ship."

"Are we bringing him along or not?" Valkyrie asks Thor impatiently. "We need to get moving."

"We could use a Celestial," Thor finally says, smiling. "Welcome to the Revengers, Star-Lord."

"Revengers?" Loki repeats.

Bruce shakes his head, "He wanted to call us the Avengers but wanted something more original."

"Who are the Avengers?" Peter asks.

"Me, Banner, Stark, Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton," Thor lists. "I am the strongest one. How do you not know us? We saved the Earth from the Chitauri and my brother, plus an evil robot."

"They don't exactly show Earth on the news in the Andromeda Galaxy," Peter says flatly.

"Andromeda? You're not in the Milky Way?" Bruce questions. "Where the hell have you been?"

Peter frowns, "Uh, the Andromeda Galaxy."

"No, I mean... _how_ did you end up there?" Bruce asks. "NASA hasn't even found a way there yet."

"Can we save story-time for later? We don't have time," Valkyrie cuts in. "We go now, or the Grandmaster catches us."

"Good call," Bruce nods, turning to leave. Loki is shoved forward by Valkyrie.

Thor walks alongside their new friend, the half-Celestial. He asks, "Are you sure you want to fight my sister with us?"

"I mean, if you're my only free ride to Xandar, I might as well... Why, how bad is your sister?" Peter replies.

"She's the Goddess of Death," Thor answers. "She crushed Mjölnir with her bare hand. Has Asgard cowering in fear as we speak."

Peter stares at Thor, wondering just what he'd gotten himself into, before he just says, "So, just as insurance, I'm not gonna die, am I?"

"I don't think so. I'll make sure you don't," Thor says. "I'll get you home, okay? Just like I will Banner."

"Okay," Peter says, still feeling a little unsure. Maybe a hint of regret at agreeing to come along so quickly. But, in the end, they were a free ride to Xandar. Then again, he could fly... "How long do you think it would take me to fly from here to Xandar?"

Thor turns to him as the four of them leave the building, "You're going to fly to Xandar? What about coming with us?"

"I don't know, man. Your sister sounds like a little too much trouble for a ride home and this seems more like a family thing," Peter says honestly.

"You're in the _real_ ass end of the galaxy. The only way out is that hole in the sky and no way you're getting out alone before you get blasted out of the sky," Valkyrie says. "Think you're better off with us just as we are with you."

Peter sighs, nodding, "Fine. What's the plan?"

"We need a ship. The Grandmaster has one that can get through the Devil's Anus," Loki answers. Peter blinks.

"Sorry. Devil's _what_?"

"Devil's Anus," Bruce repeats. "Trust me, I can't believe that's its name either."

Loki says, "I can get us a ship that can actually withstand it."

"I don't trust you to go alone," Thor says. "I will go with you."

"Quill can come with me," Loki immediately says.

Thor looks Peter over before saying, "Fine." He looks around and finds a communicator, passing it to Peter after syncing it up with his own, "If Loki pulls anything, call me."

"Maybe I'll just call you anyway," Peter says. He hadn't meant it -- years upon years of casual flirting lead to the sentence tumbling right out of his lips without a second thought. Bruce raises an eyebrow at him as Loki's eyes widen just the slightest bit. The Valkyrie shows no signs of a reaction and Thor simply smiles.

"Call me anyway," Thor replies, pushing Loki forward. "Go get the ship, we'll meet up with you."

* * *

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Peter asks, standing next to Loki in the elevator.

"Flirting with my brother," Loki replies.

"Nothing, man. It just slipped out," Peter replies, awkwardly looking away. "Look, if you're thinking about giving me the whole protective brother talk, don't. We've got bigger problems."

Loki hums quietly to himself and says, "I know we do. No long boring talk is coming your way, rest assured. I'll keep it short. If you fool around with him, I will kill you."

Peter is quiet until the doors open, and they obtain their ship. While Loki works out the controls and Peter looks over the engines (mentally noting some pretty impressive models to either recreate or steal once the Asgardian nightmare sister is dealt with), he accidentally presses the call button on the communicator and Thor's voice comes through, startling him.

"Is everything alright?" Thor asks.

"Oh, shit!" Peter flinches, not expecting the voice. "Sorry, I must have called on accident."

Thor replies, "No worries. Have you gotten the ship?"

"Yeah, your brother's figuring out controls. He... Oh, we're up. On our way to you guys," Peter says, hand grabbing onto the wall when the ship starts to lift off. "Your brother is something else."

Thor's voice sounds exasperated when he asks, "What did he do this time?"

"Gave me some protective talk... I don't know," Peter trails off.

"Why would he have to?" Thor questions.

"I guess because of earlier," Peter says. "Sorry about that. It just happens sometimes."

He can practically hear the grin in Thor's voice when he says, "Don't apologize."

_Oh, shit._

* * *

"You any good at flying yet?" Thor shouts over the noise. Banner is trying to keep the ship stable while Valkyrie and Loki are taking down the ships chasing them.

Before Peter can respond, Bruce's arm shoots out and pushes him out the door, saying, "No better way to figure out than to do."

Survival instincts kick in and Peter flies back up into the ship right before he crashes into the ground. He stops right in front of Thor, who steadies him. He ignores the tight space between them and shouts, "What'd you do that for?"

"Because we don't have time," Bruce replies, steering the ship. "At least now we know you can fly."

"You could have just waited for me to answer, man," Peter frowns.

"This is more fun," Thor admits, grinning. Peter looks over his shoulder before grabbing him, pulling him aside to clear the path for him to blast at an incoming ship. He jumps out of the door again and joins Valkyrie and Loki at taking down the remaining ships. Since there are less than ten ships left and with Peter, they're quick work, Thor stays to help Bruce with making sure they will make it through the Devil's Anus.

"You like him, don't you?" Bruce asks.

Thor half scoffs, half laughs, and says, "We're going to fight my sister. Now's no time to think of a man we just met."

"I think he likes you too," Bruce simply says, right before Peter, Valkyrie, and Loki return to the ship and they finally get off Sakaar.

* * *

"Thank you for helping us," Thor says once all the Asgardians are safe and Hela is no longer a problem. While Peter, Thor, Valkyrie, and Heimdall handled Hela, her undead army and Fenris, Loki had gone off to summon Surtur. They'd fled Asgard and left Surtur to fight their fight for them.

"It's okay," Peter says. "I'm sorry about Asgard."

"It's okay," Thor repeats Peter's response. "Asgard's wherever the people are. As long as they are here, Asgard continues to live." Peter nods, looking out of the thick glass window into the void of stars. They had set a course for Xandar to drop Peter off before they continue on their journey back to Earth. Thor asks, "Are you sure you don't want to join us? Xandar isn't going anywhere and we like having you around."

Peter shakes his head, "My team's waiting for me to come back. I can't stay here. But hey, maybe we'll meet up someday."

"Maybe we shall," Thor says. There's a moment of quiet for a while before Thor adds, "It was really nice to fight with you."

"Back at you," Peter replies. Maybe in a different situation, Peter might have hated Thor. He's better looking, better built, better everything. But without anyone comparing them, nobody to play himself up in front of, Thor's a great guy. He admits, "I know we've known each other for a day, but this is _something_ , right?"

"I think so," Thor mumbles. "But we'll be parting ways."

"We do have communicators," Peter smiles, partially plastic.

Thor sees through him but just says, "We do."

"I don't really want to go yet," Peter cracks. "This was nice. You, your crew."

"Then don't go," Thor replies. "I have a feeling everything will work out fine."

Before Peter can say anything, a shadow looms over them and they both peer up the window, seeing a ship at least a hundred times the size of their own approaching them. He mutters, "Is that a friend of yours?"

"I don't recognize the ship," Thor replies. He squints, trying to see who is manning the ship. His eyes widen when he sees something and he grabs Peter's hand, tugging him away from the window, "We need to go. This isn't good."

 _Thanos_.


	3. Good Guys Wear Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2014 Daredevil Season Two's Frank Castle falls into 2016 Spider-Man: Homecoming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is kind of super long, but in my defence, the dynamic of Frank and Peter intrigued me a lot.

Frank Castle is not the most welcoming to a foreign environment, so he's not happy about his new circumstances. While he was being transported out of the prison, he'd fallen through a hole in the ground and fell out the other end outside some high school party. While trying to find a signboard or something to figure out where he is, he found himself caught in the crosshairs of a pursuit of a van by some skinny guy in red and blue tights.

Not his problem. He never liked the Trick-or-Treating "superheroes". He had bigger problems -- he's now a prison escapee in public. He needs to figure out where the hell he is and either hide or get away. After ten minutes of sneaking around the neighborhood so as to not attract the attention of the residents, he still can't find anything useful, but he passes by the red and blue tights guy talking to Iron Man, who's just about flying away.

Frank makes a detour and starts walking away, ducking behind a tree when he hears a kid on a phone call. When he ducks, he spots something glowing in the ground and picks it up. It's purple and looks like some high-grade technology. It reminded him faintly of those aliens from the New York attack years ago.

"Excuse me, sir," the kid in spandex says. "I need you to give that to me."

"This yours?" Frank asks, fingers instinctively reaching for his gun. He curses the fact that he's literally still in prison wear. He needs his gear because he has a feeling that he's just gotten himself tied up in something big.

"No, but it belonged to the guys I was chasing," the kid replies. He looks him up and down with that peculiar mask and asks, "Did you just escape prison?"

It's Frank's turn to say no, "I fell through a hole in the ground and ended up on the street. I escaped jail, but it's not my doing. What the hell is this thing?"

The kid takes the glowing object from Frank and looks it over before saying, "Some sort of Chitauri energy core."

" _What_ energy core?"

"If I take this back with me, I could get a lead on what kind of weaponry they're working with and track them down..." his mumbling eventually becomes incoherent as he turns away from Frank, thinking of his new plans.

Frank takes the energy core back, saying, "Hey, no. That looks dangerous and I'm half-sure you're just a kid. Give it to me."

The boy replies, "Look, can we talk somewhere more private? I'm still in costume, and you're in prison clothes."

* * *

The two of them eventually find an abandoned parking lot nearby and Frank instantly says, "Take that mask off."

"I can't," he replies. "It's my secret identity, I --"

"I know someone like you. Wears a mask. Red too," Frank says. "If you're a 'hero', you wouldn't be ashamed, hiding behind a mask, would you?"

"Well, no..." he trails off. "But I use it to protect my family and friends."

Frank mutters, "You're one of the good guys if you talking to that Tin Can earlier is any indication."

"You saw that?"

"Why I ended up next to that energy core. If you're a 'hero', then I'm not gonna tell anyone. Same as the guy I was talking about," Frank says. When the guy still doesn't make a move to take off his mask, Frank says, "I'm not giving this to you if you don't."

He sighs and relents, pulling off his mask to reveal a teenage boy. He introduces, "I'm Peter Parker. Spider-Man."

"Frank Castle," Frank returns. He hands Peter the core and asks, "Bring me up to speed. If I'm here, I might as well get rid of a few more criminals along the way."

"Wait, do you mean Frank Castle as in the Punisher?"

"The what?"

* * *

Peter had half a mind to try and hide Frank in his room but realized he can't hide a full-grown adult from his aunt, so he just handed him a few dollar bills (with a couple more that Ned had happily offered to help his superhero crusade) so Frank could get a motel room.

They had agreed on a plan; Peter would use the lab at school to investigate the energy core and then see Frank at the motel with his findings. After this, they'll see their options and decide what to do next.

Peter is kind of nervous about teaming up with the Punisher. He's not popular enough that Mr. Stark would know him, but Peter does follow the news and he knows about the trial of Frank Castle. He knows what he was getting put away for. Though, maybe if Peter is there, he could make sure the situation doesn't get out of hand. Besides, someone like Frank, experienced, could help him if Mr. Stark won't.

The two men Peter had been following the night he met Frank came to Midtown High to find Peter, but with Ned's help, they stayed out of their way and Peter managed to plant a tracking device on one of them. That takes him to Frank's motel room to use the tracer to track their location.

"Not bad, Red," Frank says, borderline impressed. Tracking isn't exactly very impressive, but he's talking about a teenager who seems fairly new to the game. It's not bad at all. "We'll have to wait until they stop, see where their base is, then we'll go."

"Sounds good," Peter nods, finding a nice resting spot on the ceiling to experiment with his suit. Frank stares up at him and frowns.

"You do that often?"

Peter glances back down at him and asks, "Does it bother you? I can come down."

"Stay up there if you want, I don't care," Frank mutters, putting down the tracker projector on the bedside table. "What happened to you?"

"Radioactive spider bite," Peter replies. "You said you had a friend like me. Who was it?"

"Calls himself _Daredevil_ ," Frank scoffs. He never liked that the Devil-themed vigilante hid behind a name and a mask. That's not a hero.

" _The_ Daredevil?" Peter gapes. _That_ got his attention. Peter swings back to the ground, using his fingers to slowly bring himself down. He continues, "He's so cool! What's he like?"

"Too kind for his own good," Frank says. "Inefficient."

If Peter has any thoughts about 'inefficient', he doesn't say anything. Instead, he asks, "How'd he get so good at being a hero?"

"Ask him yourself. I'm not his keeper," Frank replies, staring at the tracker. They're still moving.

"I was just asking," Peter mumbles, sitting at the small desk and fiddling with his web-shooter.

Frank curses under his breath; he isn't a fan of making kids feel like shit. The last time he let his own kid down, she got killed. He finally says, "He just kept working on it. I'm not big on the way he does things, but it works for him."

Peter nods, his mood lightened from Frank being a little nicer, and asks after a moment's thought, "What works for you?" He already knows. He's watched the trial on the news with Aunt May. Frank doesn't know that.

"Beating them doesn't keep them off the streets," Frank answers, eyes still on the tracker.

"Sending them to jail does, though," Peter points out.

"If they really want to keep being bad guys, no prison in the world can stop them," Frank counters. "When the law gets them, they get back up. When I hit them, they stay down." Peter gives him a long stare and Frank can't be assed to read his expression. He picks up the tracker and stands, saying, "They've stopped. Maryland. We go now, we'll have gotten them by morning."

"Hey, wait. I have a decathlon there, tomorrow," Peter says.

Frank mutters, "That's not my problem. I'm still going even if you're not."

Peter uses his webs to snatch the tracker out of Frank's hand and he says, "Well, you can't go without the exact location."

 _Damn costumed "heroes"..._ Frank relents, "Fine. Where the hell's this decathlon supposed to be exactly?"

* * *

"You're late," Frank says as soon as Peter arrives.

He apologizes, "I tried to get here as soon as I could, I'm sorry."

"You remove the tracker in your suit yet?" Frank asks.

Peter blinks, frowning in confusion, "How do you know about that?"

Frank scoffs, folding his arms impatiently, "Come on. You're clearly Stark's sidekick or something. From that talking down he gave you that time, he's definitely keeping tabs on you."

"Yeah, he is. Happy called to ask why I was out of New York," Peter sighs. "I removed it before I came here."

"Good. Now give me the location."

Peter holds up a hand to tell Frank to give him a second and he says, "Hey, Suit Lady, I had a tracker planted days ago, can you tell me where we should go?"

"Suit Lady?" Frank questions, attention caught by the name mentioned.

Peter explains, "She's my A.I. Anyway, I know where to go. Follow me."

* * *

Peter wakes up inside a truck. The doorway seems to have been blasted and kicked open. Looking around, he can't find Frank. He groans and rubs his head -- probably got a concussion, he'll have to check. He gets out of the truck and sees Frank messing around with the panel next to the large door.

"Mr. Castle?" Peter calls out. "Where are we? What happened?"

"Storage vault. I think it's for Damage Control," Frank answers. "Hey, you know how to work this thing?"

"I can try," Peter says, walking over slowly. "What is it?"

Frank narrows his eyes at him and asks, "You okay, kid? You hit your head pretty hard in there. Couldn't wake you up until we got stuck here."

"I think I have a concussion," Peter mumbles. "I'll be fine."

"Sit down," Frank says, guiding the teenager over to a crate. "Just take it easy. I'll try and figure this panel out and we'll get out."

"How long have we been here?" Peter asks.

Frank answers in a quieter voice than Peter was used to him speaking in, "Just a few hours. It's still night-time." After giving up, Frank sits down near Peter on a different crate. "You ditch your decathlon thing?"

"Yeah, my friends weren't very happy about it," Peter laments. "Liz is gonna be so mad."

"A girl you like?" Frank asks. If they're not gonna have a shot at getting out until the kid's feeling a little better, he might as well pass the time with conversation. He's a nice kid anyway.

"Yeah," Peter says. "She's really good at drawing, and she's super pretty." After a pause, he asks, "Did you have a wife?"

"I did," Frank answers, getting a far-away look in his eyes. "Her name was Maria."

Peter admits, "I watched your trial, on the news."

Frank frowns, "Then why did you act like you didn't know me?"

"I didn't want to judge you without knowing you..." Peter trails off. "When we were fighting the Vulture, you almost got him that time, before his friends came to help. You said something. What does it mean?"

"Said what?"

Peter replies, "A rhyme? Before you shot at him."

Frank furrows his brows, surprised, "You heard that?" He always says it under his breath, quietly to himself. He didn't think the kid could hear him with all the commotion in the fight.

"I hear a lot. Enhanced senses because of my spider bite," Peter explains. "What does it mean?"

Frank's about to tell him to mind his own business, but Peter is just so innocent, just wants to do good, make his mentor proud. Mentor? Father? Frank doesn't know the specifics. But Peter reminded him of his kids. If he can find even just a few seconds of solace talking to him, he'll do it. He finds himself starting to explain, "One batch, two batch, penny, and dime. It was her favorite book." Peter stays quiet, ready to listen.

"You cross the ocean to fight all those times, thinking you're gonna be scared, right? But then, you're not. See, it's the part that was always easy for me. Killing. Even watching my buddies die, just... It didn't mean nothing. First time I got scared; I was on a plane on the way home, I kept thinking God was gonna pull the rug out from under us, you know? Shit, that's his kind of funny. But the plane landed safe and we were driving through traffic. Yeah, we passed fast food, donut shops, and all that greasy shit, shit you fought to protect, and the car stops. We're outside her school."

Peter adjusts in his seat on the crate to face Frank more. Frank takes a breath and continues.

"Get to her classroom, she's in there. She's got no idea. She's got no idea Daddy's home. Well, I walk in and I'm looking at these kids and they're not even studying. They're doing some kind of yoga," Frank chuckles a little bit at the memory. The sight was amusing. Peter smiles faintly. "Yeah, yeah. She's there. She's posing, bending. She's moving like a flower... You can't even understand it, you know, just how something like that... How something that beautiful, how does that... Did that come from me?"

Peter presses his lips together and looks down at his hands, imagining how his parents had been with him before they died.

"She looks at me, she sees me, I see her... 'My God, that's real. That's real, right?' Well, it is, since she's crossing the classroom floor, she's in my arms, she's squeezing me so tight, so I was gonna bust a rib. We just stay there like that, we're holding each other. The teacher, she's filming the whole thing on her phone. You know, she can't put it on YouTube or some shit. She can't even keep it steady because she's bawling so hard and kids are all wailing, they're screaming to me shit. I'm the worst of all, I'm more of a face clown, you know, cry so hard..." Frank blinks hard, tries not to break. Why did he even start talking? He looks back at Peter and sees him, and he just knows he knows how he feels. He doesn't even know why, just the way he's slouched over a little bit in defeat, the way his hands are clasped together like he's trying not to cry. He knows.

"Not my baby. Not my girl. She's all grown. She's not crying. She's holding me up. My girl, she's keeping me on my feet. She said 'I knew it, Daddy. I knew it'... We go home, my wife, boy, place is the exact same, like it was just holding its breath, waiting for me to get back. The first time I thought of how tired I was... You've been tired, right?"

Peter nods slowly, sniffing, "Yeah."

"So, you know. It's just, I couldn't do nothing. All the things... I can't take my wife to bed, I'm so tired I can't even drink a God damn beer, but not her. She was up. She wanted me to... She wanted me to tuck her in. She outgrew it, she knew it. She didn't care, she wanted it. She had that book. Her favourite book was on the pillow. One batch, two batch, penny and dime. I read her that book every night before a shift, I read it every single night. But that was over now, because Daddy's home. She looked at me, she begged me. She begged, she begged..."

The shaking of Peter's body breaks Frank's train of thought for a moment. He's crying. He knows.

"I said 'No, Daddy's too tired. I'll read it to you tomorrow night. I'll read it to you tomorrow night, promise'. I didn't think that there wasn't going to be another tomorrow. Last time I see her, I would be holding her lifeless body in my arms. She's just gone..."

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Castle," Peter says quietly. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry too, Red," Frank replies. "Your parents?"

"Yeah," Peter sniffs.

* * *

After the talk in the storage vault, they'd managed to use Peter's A.I. to hack their way out. While waiting for the A.I. to sort out the code to open the vault doors, they discovered that the Chitauri energy core would explode if exposed to enough radiation, which had Peter panicking as he had left the core with Ned. They two of them managed to get themselves back to Washington, D.C. so Peter can get the core off Ned.

"You left the thing with a civilian?" Frank asks, following Peter to the monument. Following Peter's insistence, he'd ended up wearing a skull mask Peter had webbed from a store to hide his identity.

"I didn't know it was going to explode!" Peter exclaims. Just then, the top of the Washington Monument's windows blew out.

MJ stands up from her seat on the bench, shouting, "My friends are up there!"

Frank looks to Peter, "You have any way to get up there?"

Peter nods and tries to crawl up the side of the monument as quickly as he can. Frank watches tensely as Peter reaches the top, seemingly trying to negotiate with the local authorities in a helicopter. He eventually jumps over the helicopter and then swings back to break into a window to get in. Frank hates that he can't get up there; At least, not fast enough that he would be able to help in any capacity. He can only hope Peter can handle the monument on his own.

* * *

Peter curses under his breath when he sees the Iron Man armor from the corner of his eyes, helping him keep the ship up. He'd interrogated Aaron Davis, the man he'd seen the night he met Frank and followed the Vulture's trail onto the ship. He didn't inform Frank about it, wanting to see if he could do it alone and prove to Tony that he was ready for more missions. He also didn't think Frank would mind. It ended up resulting in Tony taking his suit away, and Frank calling him from his burner phone that night.

"I saw you on the news, kid. What the hell was that?"

Peter sighs, running a hand through his hair, "I tried to do it myself."

"Yeah, I can see that. That was dangerous. I know you think you can do it because you've got the fancy tech and powers, but you can't do it _alone_ ," Frank berates.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Castle," Peter says quietly. "Mr. Stark confiscated my suit. He said if I'm nothing without it, then I shouldn't have it."

Frank is silent for a few moments, before he says, "I earned the skull I wear too, Red. You wanna wear those colors, you earn it. Take on more than you can do, and the colors won't mean a thing. I know you want to prove yourself, but you can't force it." When Peter doesn't reply after a while, Frank changes the subject in an attempt to make him feel better, "Don't you have Homecoming coming up?"

"Yeah, I do," Peter says.

"Ask that girl," Frank encourages.

* * *

Peter felt awful. He took Frank's suggestion and asked Liz to the dance, to which she accepted. When he met her father, he got a bad feeling he couldn't shake. Then he realized why -- her father was the Vulture. He'd been threatened in the car after Liz got out and told of his plans to hijack the Stark Industries cargo plane full of Chitauri and Ultron tech that would be dangerous in the wrong hands. When he got into the party, he apologized to Liz and left to call Frank.

"Mr. Castle, it's the Vulture. He's gonna hijack Mr. Stark's cargo. It's got alien tech on it and some Avengers equipment. We can't let him get it," Peter rambles as soon as Frank picks up the call.

"I'll meet you at your school," Frank says immediately.

* * *

When Frank gets to Midtown High, he already sees one of the idiots -- the "Shocker" -- he saw the other night, when he and Peter got locked in the storage vault. He sneaks up behind him and gets him into a chokehold. He'd have used a gun, killed him right away, but he didn't want to alarm all the kids in the school. They didn't need to see it. Since he caught him off-guard, Frank manages to knock him out cold right before Peter stumbles out in a homemade costume.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Frank questions.

"I don't have anything else to wear," Peter mumbles defeatedly, eyeing the knocked-out Shocker.

Frank nods towards the car the Shocker had arrived in and says, "I'm driving. Lead the way."

"I already left my phone in his car to follow."

"Smart kid."

* * *

In the car, Frank had listened on the drive to Peter ranting about how his date's father just had to be a criminal, and that he had no choice but to, for the greater good, deprive his crush of growing up with a father, just like he did. Yes, he did have his Uncle Ben, but he didn't get much time with his biological father and Peter always felt sad about it.

Frank says, a weak attempt to comfort the teenager, "Shit happens, you know. You're doing a good thing here. Even if it doesn't feel like it."

"Maybe," Peter mumbles, looking out the car window.

* * *

Peter had gone in alone first while Frank waited outside in case things went sour. Frank didn't feel too good about the plan; He didn't want to admit it, but he had come to be a little protective over the teenager. Peter could never stand in for his kids, but he felt like he was his kid. He heard a noise coming from inside and quickly burst through the doors. He sees Peter turn back to him for a brief second before the building comes crashing down.

"Shit," Frank groans as soon as he comes to. He realizes he's stuck under debris. "Kid! You okay?"

"I'm here," he hears his voice echo over. "Where are you?"

"Under," Frank answers. He kept his answer short -- the longer it was, the less breath he felt like he had. Being trapped under a building isn't helping at all. He hears some debris topple over until Peter is near him. He asks again, grimacing in pain, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I didn't get trapped," Peter says, bending down to try and lift the building off of him. "Hold on, Mr. Castle."

Frank tries to push up against the debris as Peter attempts to lift it, but it wasn't budging. Even until Peter is screaming out to summon as much strength as he can, it didn't move. Peter heaves, "I'm sorry, Mr. Castle. I can't do it."

He takes a deep breath, ready to try again, until Frank just says, "Leave me here. Go get Toomes."

"I can't leave you here," Peter insists. "I can't fail you."

"You're not failing me. You're only gonna fail yourself if you let that guy steal that tech," Frank says. He's trying to talk as softly as he can, so he won't run out of breath as fast.

"Get out of here before the building collapses more."

"Come on, Spider-Man," Peter mutters, trying once again.

"Red --"

"Come on, Spider-Man!"

Peter yells out, breathing heavily as he slowly lifts the building. As soon as it's high enough, Frank pushes upwards and crawls out from under the debris before Peter drops it. He laughs tiredly, "Mr. Castle... You're out."

"I'm out," Frank nods, patting his shoulder before keeping his arm there to support him out of the building. "The night's not over, kid."

"I know," Peter exhales. "Let's get him."

* * *

Frank follows the plane from the ground, in the Shocker's car. He glances out the window every few minutes to check on the fight in the air. Peter seems to be holding his own well enough. It's when the plane begins to go down that Frank starts getting concerned.

He watches as Peter manages to change the plane's direction so that it wouldn't crash into New York. It also means that they're heading for Coney Island. Frank hits the gas to try and get there before the plane reaches.

As soon as he gets out of the car, the plane crashes a few yards from him. He runs over, shouting, "Red!"

"I'm okay!" Peter shouts back before a grunt sounds out as Toomes attacks him. Frank gets out one of the guns he'd acquired over the past few days and fires at him, taking out one of his mechanical wings. Frank tries to divert Toomes' attention away from Peter, knowing that the teenager is heavily injured.

Toomes flies over -- unsteadily, with only one fully operating wing -- and lifts up Frank, slamming him onto the ground. Frank curses loudly and shoots at Toomes again. He misses and is thrown aside. Peter uses his webs to stop Toomes from hurting Frank more. While Toomes tries to free himself from Peter's webs entangled in his wings, Frank shoots at him, causing him to yell out in pain.

Frank had managed to get his arm. Toomes falls to the ground, gripping onto his wound. Frank puts the barrel to his head and says quietly, "One batch, two batch, penny and --"

"Stop!" Peter shouts out.

"He doesn't deserve to keep going," Frank says. "He's a criminal, like all the others."

"He's just trying to provide for his family," Peter says. "He did bad things, but he didn't mean anything bad."

"He tried to kill you!" Frank says incredulously.

Peter tries, "I don't have the right to take someone's father away from them. I know his daughter, and she's at the school dance alone... She's never gonna forgive me for that, and the least I can do is make sure her father doesn't die tonight. Please, Mr Castle."

Frank finds himself hesitating. Huh, that's new.

"Don't kill him, please," Peter begs. "I don't want to have to stop you."

Something in Frank lowers his gun, and he steps away from Toomes.

"Thank you," Peter says, quickly webbing Toomes up.

"One batch, two batch, penny and dime," Frank mumbles quietly to himself, as he and Peter watch from afar as the police collected him.

* * *

"I saw the news," Daredevil says. "You let him walk?"

"I let him rot in prison," Frank corrects.

"Why? Not your usual thing," Daredevil asks, standing on the edge of the rooftop.

Frank shrugs, stepping up next to him below the ledge, "That Spider kid, you know. He reminded me of my kids."

"Ambitious?"

"Good," Frank says. "He was good."


End file.
